Constantine Komnenos Arianites

Constantine Komnenos Arianites (1456–1530) was an Albanian nobleman who lived most of his life in Italy, in the service of the Papacy. A descendant of both Byzantine and Albanian noble families, Constantine claimed the title of "Despot of the Morea" in 1502 following the death of Andreas Palaiologos (who Constantine was unrelated to), the nephew of the final Byzantine emperor Constantine XI and up until then recognised heir to both the Despotate of the Morea and the Byzantine Empire, which had fallen to the Ottoman sultan Mehmed II in 1453. Unlike Andreas, Constantine never claimed the imperial title, but did claim other titles, such as "Prince of Macedonia" and "Duke of Achaea".

Constantine may have based his claim on the title either on his connection to the Komnenos dynasty, which had ruled the Byzantine Empire 1081–1185, or on his marriage to Francesca of Montferrat, who was of the Palaiologoi's cadet branch in Montferrat, descended from Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos (r. 1282–1328). Throughout his life, Constantine was heavily involved in several anti-Ottoman schemes, notable two failed attempts at starting crusades aimed at taking Constantinople, ancient capital of the Byzantine Empire.

Constantine's father George Arianites had been a lord in Albania, but his family had originated in the Byzantine Empire's capital, Constantinople. Constantine also asserted descent from the Komnenos dynasty (which had ruled the Byzantine Empire in 1081–1185) with his second last name. His family was well connected to local Balkan rulers through marriages and the Arianites family itself had impressively resisted the Ottomans, George having led a revolt in the 1430s. Following George's death, the Ottomans slowly conquered Albania, with the final outpost, the port city Durazzo, falling in 1501.

In 1469, aged twelve, Constantine was transported to Italy for his own safety. Pope Sixtus IV noticed the boy and provided him with a monthly pension of 32 ducats so that he could live a nobleman's life. In the 1490s, Constantine married Francesca of Montferrat, a daughter of Boniface III of Montferrat and a member of a cadet branch of the Palaiologos dynasty that had ruled in the March of Montferrat since the early 14th century. Constantine impressed Pope Julius II with his work as an ambassador to the (then uncrowned) Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I in 1504. Not only was his pension increased to 200 ducats, but Constantine was also made the commander of a detachment of papal troops.

Constantine hoped to restore Christian rule in the Balkans. From the 1490s, he claimed to be the legitimate ruler of Thessaly and Macedonia, describing himself with the title "Prince of Macedonia" and later also adding another title, "Duke of Achaea". Both titles are inscribed at his tomb in the church of Santi Apostoli in Rome. With the death of Andreas Palaiologos, nephew of the final Byzantine emperor Constantine XI, in 1502 the title of "Emperor of Constantinople" and "Despot of the Morea" became vacant, and Constantine claimed the latter. Constantine's claim to the title, which he prominently used in his diplomacy between the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor, may have been based either on his descent from the Komnenoi, or on the fact that his wife Francesca was of the Palaiologoi (albeit not descended from the last emperors of that family).

In 1494, Charles VIII, the King of France, entered Italy and proclaimed that he was preparing to launch a crusade against the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid II in order to take Constantinople. In November that year, Charles had bought the right to the title "Emperor of Constantinople" from the impoverished Andreas Palaiologos. Charles met Constantine at Montferrat, where Constantine agreed to help the king stir up an Albanian rebellion as a diversion to allow Charles to take Constantinople. However, when preparing this enterprise in Venice, the Venetian government became frightened of the prospect of an Ottoman invasion and attempted to arrest Constantine, who then fled to Apulia. In the end, Charles never ventured to the Ottoman Empire. Constantine continued to be involved in anti-Ottoman activities. He was an active diplomat during the negotiations that formed the League of Cambrai, an alliance formed to counteract the Ottomans and the Republic of Venice (though it failed at both).

In 1514, Pope Leo X appointed Constantine as the governor of Fano, a town near Ancona on the shores of the Adriatic Sea. Fano would have been an obvious launching point for an expedition into the Balkans, and had been considered as such by Pope Pius II in the 1460s, when he had hoped to launch a crusade. Constantine's appointment as governor may have been related to Leo's own hopes for a crusade: detailed invasion plans, featuring the Venetian, Spanish, English and Portugeese fleets had been drawn up, and it was rumored that Leo's chosen candidate for Emperor of Constantinople was the French king, Francis I. Like Charles VIII's crusade twenty years earlier, Leo's crusade never happened.